


Fragile Bonds

by lake_writes



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Virtual Reality, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Multi, Neurodivergent Saihara Shuichi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Game, Recovery, Shuichi has ADHD, Trans Male Character, Trans Saihara Shuichi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25006891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lake_writes/pseuds/lake_writes
Summary: Things are different when Shuichi wakes up from the simulation that was season 53 of Danganronpa. Far more different than he expected them to be.~~~~~~~~~~Discord Server: https://discord.gg/VPDPXtE
Relationships: Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 2
Kudos: 100





	Fragile Bonds

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for clicking on this fic!! This is a bit of an odd one, but I really like this concept and I wish more people would consider it. A big thank you to my beta, Lynne, for helping me write this chapter when I got stuck!! I can't wait to write more for this, and I hope you enjoy!

The first thing Shuichi could hear was the soft and steady beeping of a heart monitor near his right ear, drowned out by the hushed whispers of strangers farther off, strange medical jargon falling from their lips as they spoke, presumably, about him. Where was he? Was this the afterlife? It had to be, he didn’t remember anything else after escaping the dome with Maki and Himiko. He hoped they were alright.

The lights above him began to grow irritating, painting the backs of his eyelids red and white as a new voice joined in the conversation, this one noticeably younger than the other two, one that seemed familiar and yet not all at the same time. _Kokichi?_

All conversation in the room stopped, and the heavy silence hung in the air. Why did they stop talking? Had something happened? The silence was broken only by the soft tapping of shoes as someone walked over to his side, their hand coming to rest gently on his arm as they leaned over him, providing him relief from the blinding lights. Now free from the blinding torture, he allowed himself to pry his eyes open, squinting up at the blurry figure above him. He could just barely make out the purple hair he had become so accustomed to seeing, and honestly missed.

His vision sharpened, everything finally coming into focus. Kokichi looked absolutely exhausted, the dark bags in his eyes prominent against his pale skin, and he somehow managed to look even more exhausted when he smiled. He woke a black t-shirt, one adorned with a character from Danganronpa, one that made him taste bile. He grimaced, choosing not to focus on that. He opened his mouth to speak, wincing as his throat ached. It was impossibly dry.

Kokichi seemed to get the message, for he released his wrist and turned away, coming back with a plastic cup and a straw, holding it out to him. Shuichi didn’t take the cup, he didn’t trust himself not to drop it, but the other didn’t seem to mind. He guided the straw to Shuichi’s mouth, waiting patiently as he sipped the water inside and properly lubricated his throat for the first time in god knows how long.

The straw was pulled away from him after a few moments, and Shuichi licked his lips to keep any water from dripping down his chin. It felt like a godsend on the desert that was his throat, the liquid refreshing his body and almost immediately making him feel more alert. After a few moments, he raised his eyes to meet Kokichi’s again, and he opened his mouth. “...How are you alive?” he asked, quietly, his voice hushed and awed. “You… You were…”

Kokichi’s smile turned grim, straining at the edges as he heard Shuichi speak. “I’m alive because I never actually died, Shuichi,” he said, his voice unnaturally low and even. The Kokichi he knew would never be this honest. Was he telling some sort of lie?

“You’re acting different,” he commented, coming off more accusatory than he had meant to. He winced at his own tone, mumbling out a quiet apology and dropping his gaze to stare down at his hands.

“Oh?” Kokichi hummed, drawing a chair closer to the bed so he could sit. He tilted his head to the side, regarding Shuichi with a thoughtful gaze. “What makes you think that I’m acting different?” There was something about his tone that made Shuichi want to hug him, and yet he refrained. He could see the doctors that were pretending not to watch them speak, no doubt ready to interfere if either of them tried anything.

It took him a moment to gather his thoughts before he met Kokichi’s gaze again. “You’re not as… energetic, as you usually are,” he said finally, and Kokichi’s eyebrows rose. “Usually you’re all over the place and telling lies, and loud, and kind of annoying. You’re not now, though.” His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he thought, his eyes narrowing as he tried to chase down the answer.

Kokichi was silent for a moment before he laughed, a soft huff more than anything, shaking his head. “And what do you think that means, Mr. Detective?”

“...I don’t know,” Shuichi mumbled quietly. His thoughts were so foggy, he couldn’t make heads or tails of half of them. “I don’t know what it means. It’s… kind of scary.” He bit at his lower lip. What kind of detective would he be if he couldn’t answer a question just as simple as that?

“Well,” Kokichi cut in suddenly. “There’s no use on dwelling on that now. You should be focusing on recovering instead. Everyone else’s awake already, and I’m sure they want to see you.” He smiled at Shuichi as he stood up. “I’ll come by later, I’m sure those doctors over there want to check on you.” He was quick to push his chair back up against the wall where he found it before waving at Shuichi as he swiftly left the room.

As soon as Kokichi was gone, the doctors descended upon him like vultures, checking the machines and testing his vitals and the like. They told him that they were employed by Team Danganronpa, and that the killing game they had all participated in was just a simulation. The thought made Shuichi’s blood turn to ice. He had been expecting to feel so relieved to hear that everyone was still alive, to be happy that he’d get to see everyone again, but instead all that filled his heart was fear.

“Is everything alright?” A gentle voice cut in through his thoughts, and he whipped his head towards the source. He caught the wide hazel eyes of a nurse, one that wore a kind smile, holding a small tray of food in her hands. “I thought you might be hungry,” she explained when she saw his confused look. “Plus, it’s easier to process things when you’ve got a full stomach, in my opinion.”

“...A-Ah,” was all the bed-ridden boy could stutter out, staring at the tray as it was set on the bedside table and wheeled closer to him so he could reach. It was a simple meal, just a sandwich, one that was pretty fancily made for what he assumed to be a hospital. It looked delicious. He supposed this was a result of all the money Team Danganronpa had made.

“You’ve made a pretty big splash, Saihara-kun,” the nurse hummed as she made herself busy nearby, pretending to be checking the monitors as she made conversation. “This has been one of the most successful seasons yet.” Her tone was dead, no enthusiasm painting her words as one would have expected.

“Has it?” Shuichi mumbled around his sandwich, throwing any thought he had of manners to the wind. He couldn’t bring himself to care, he was far too hungry to be concerned about anything like that. “Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?”

The nurse froze in her movements, as if she were surprised at having been caught before she began to laugh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Saihara-kun,” she hummed, moving to the window to open the curtains. She refused to face him, he noticed. “I think it’s wonderful that this season was so successful.”

Shuichi’s eyebrows furrowed. She was very clearly lying, although he couldn’t really bring himself to comment on it. He supposed it was natural for her to dislike it, considering that she worked with the participants that came out of each season, and saw the effects that it had on everyone.

His mind began to wander to the others again, to Kaede and Kaito, and all the rest. He wondered how they were doing, if they were just waking up, or if they already had been for a while, like Kokichi seemed to be. His stomach twisted. He was excited to see everyone, but he couldn’t push back the nagging fear from earlier. It made him want to curl up in his bed and hide under the blanket as he would have done when he was just a child, hiding from the shadows in his closet, to shut his eyes against the scary outside world and fall back into the safe folds of sleep.

Shuichi jolted back as a pair of pale hands invaded his vision, the nurse’s, as she gathered up his tray. The plate was empty. He must have finished the sandwich while he was thinking. “Thank you,” he blurted out as she neared the door. “I-It was really good.”

The nurse paused for a moment before she turned to look at him over her shoulder, her eyes warm and bright as she smiled. “I wasn’t the one who made it, but thank you. Would you like me to send your friend back in? Or would you prefer to rest some?”

“I… think I want to rest,” he responded after a moment’s deliberation. As much as he wanted to see Kokichi again, to be reassured by a familiar presence, he felt absolutely exhausted after eating. A side effect, he supposed, of whatever they had used to get him to sleep for the simulation in the first place. The nurse nodded, her smile never wavering, as she turned off the light and exited the room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

Shuichi could hear her gentle voice as she spoke to someone outside the door before she walked off down the hallway, the clicking of her shoes gently echoing through the hallway until the sound faded all together.

He didn’t see Kokichi again until later in the evening. Shuichi woke up from his nap around four in the evening or so, finding the shorter boy curled up in the chair he had pulled over earlier, his nose buried in a book he picked up somewhere. It seemed to be fiction, if the dragon on the cover was any indication. “...I didn’t know you liked to read,” he commented after a moment.

His words seemed to startle Kokichi, because he jumped in his seat, lifting his head to stare at Shuichi with wide eyes before he relaxed, reaching for the bookmark resting on the bedside table and carefully slipping it between the pages. He seemed almost at a loss for words. “...There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he said finally, shrugging one shoulder as he set the book aside. “How are you feeling?”

“Less confused,” Shuichi admitted. “I mean, I still haven’t figured out why you’re acting differently, but my head feels a lot clearer, so I should be able to figure it out in no time.” He chuckled to himself. “What kind of detective would I be if I couldn’t do that, huh?”

Kokichi’s smile seemed to strain at the edges as Shuichi spoke, although that only lasted for a second before it became relaxed again. “Don’t rush yourself though,” he hummed softly, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them. “The doctors said something about too much stress could make you sick, especially now.”

Kokichi spoke with such a note of finality in his tone that Shuichi could only nod in compliance, allowing the room to lapse into near silence once more. He could hear the clock on the wall ticking away without a care in the world as his eyes wandered around the room, finally fixating on the book Kokichi had been holding earlier. He tipped his head to the side as he studied it. “Is that book any good?” he asked. “It looks interesting.”

Kokichi turned his head to study the book as well before he smiled softly, reaching out and lifting it up so Shuichi could see the cover better. “Mhm, it’s really good. It’s part of a series, you-” He paused for a moment. “I think you’d enjoy it.”

“Really?” Shuichi asked, tilting his head to the side. “I guess that makes sense. Most of the books in the library in the killing game were in another language, so I wasn’t able to read them. I can’t wait to try reading the first book.”

“I’ve got in my room,” Kokichi hummed, opening the book back up to continue reading. “I’ll bring it by tomorrow when I visit, okay?”

Shuichi nodded, pleased by the satisfied note in Kokichi’s tone. They lapsed into comfortable silence after that, broken only by the soft noise from the television in the corner from the room as Shuichi flicked through the channels, trying to find something that’d keep him occupied until whatever curfew the staff here had imposed came into effect, if there were any. He was used to the curfew they had in the killing game, it seemed, because as ten o’clock at night rolled around, he found his eyes growing heavy.

Kokichi seemed to take notice, if the way he snapped his book closed was any indication. “I’ll be heading back to my room, then,” he said quietly. “Hopefully they’ll let you out to see some people tomorrow.” He paused, looking thoughtful. “Maybe Harukawa-san or Yumeno-san. They’ve been asking for you since they woke up.”

Shuichi’s eyes widened. “Really?” he asked. “Are they alright? How long have they been awake for?”

“Longer than you, that’s for sure,” Kokichi muttered, fidgeting with the binding of his book. “We thought you weren’t ever going to wake up.” He was silent for a moment before he inhaled sharply, hopping to his feet and returning his chair to its rightful spot against the wall. “Anywho! I’ll see you tomorrow, Saihara-chan!” The smile he gave Shuichi seemed a bit forced as he skipped over to the door, pressing a finger to his lips as if he were signalling that Shuichi should stay quiet before he slipped out and into the hallway, leaving Shuichi with only the quiet mutterings of the television and his own thoughts. 

_That was certainly odd,_ Shuichi thought as he clicked the television off, plunging the room into darkness, save for the faint lights that glowed from the monitors beside his bed. Kokichi was still acting weird, although it was entirely possible that he felt sort of awkward being caught in coming to see him while he was still asleep. Shuichi remained awake for a little while longer, too caught up in his whirling thoughts to notice as he drifted off to sleep, his dreams plagued with the images of robotic bears laughing at the misery and despair of others.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, please make sure to leave kudos and a comment below!! See you next update!


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